1. Field of the Inventions
The field of the present inventions pertains to wireless communication systems, including among other things, a method and apparatus for wireless transmission of signals using both packet protocols and circuit switched protocols.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems are growing in size and number through out the world. A service that more and more wireless networks are providing is the transmission of data. Wireless networks also connect and interface with landline networks that do not use the same transmission protocols as the wireless networks. One group of popular protocols developed and used in landline networks for transmitting data are referred to as packet transmission protocols. These landline protocols are favored for transmitting data due to their robustness and flexibility.
Packet transmission protocols are especially common as Wide Area Network Protocols (WAN). Known packet protocols include X.25, TCP/IP and Frame Relay protocols. The TCP/IP protocol is used for transmission in Internet applications such as the World Wide Web (WWW), File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
A wireless communication unit operating according to the CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) protocol revision 1.1 established by the Wireless Data Forum, can transmit messages using a packet transmission protocol. Preferably, the wireless unit that is capable of transmitting data utilizing a CDPD protocol for data, should be able to switch between the packet data protocol and a circuit switched protocol depending on the service requested. However, in known wireless units switching between a packet protocol and a circuit switched protocol has required either manual user intervention or switching through the personal computer that the user is operating. Manual switching by the user either by physical switching or changing program settings is both time consuming and unreliable. Switching through the personal computer increases the processing overhead thereby decreasing the transmission rate. Further, switching by either the user or through the computer itself decreases the transmission rate since multiple interfaces may be required between the computer and the wireless transmission unit. An additional difficulty with having the switching capability reside in the computer or data device is that the computer operates using multiple clients, one for each protocol. The use of multiple clients increases the processing overhead and the complexity of the system.